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ASDA, the Leeds based supermarket, is announcing plans for a Local Employment Partnership targeting job seekers and the long term unemployed in the Middleton and Belle Isle area.

ASDAâ€™s plans for a new 37,000 sq ft (sales area) store in Middleton, opposite the St George Community Centre, will create up to 375 new full and part time jobs and ASDA are determined local people will be the first to benefit from employment opportunities.

With unemployment rising across Leeds, ASDAâ€™s plans represent a significant boost to south Leeds and will also provide local people with more supermarket choice and access to ASDAâ€™s low prices.

10% increase in number of colleagues with at least five years’ service since August 2008

More than 67,000 colleagues have now worked at Asda for at least five years

Retention rates highest on record

Colleague satisfaction reaches all-time high

23 shop floor colleagues promoted to management roles every month

Longest-serving colleague has 43 years of service under his belt

On the day Walmart releases its latest financial results, Asda announced that more than 67,000 of its colleagues have now clocked up at least five years service for the supermarket, an increase of 10% on last year.

6.2% year on year increase in discretionary income of average UK household

45.5% year on year decrease in mortgage interest payments

Food and drink inflation at its lowest since September 2007

The average UK family is Â£9 a week better off compared to July 2008 as the Bank of England keeps interest rates on hold at a record low of 0.5 per cent. As a result, the average household had Â£163 a week of discretionary income in July 2009, 6.2 per cent higher than a year earlier.

The year on year rises in the tracker are largely due to comparison with a period in which prices were rising very quickly across the economy.

Food and drink inflation is now at its lowest since September 2007, however transport costs have risen for six months in succession as petrol prices hit their highest level since January.

Ed Balls MP officially opens the centre and welcomes new jobs and investment for an area hit by business closures

50,000 sq ft facility to service all ASDA home shopping deliveries for Leeds, Huddersfield and Bradford

Four-fold increase in number of delivery slots for ASDA customers and twice as many orders carried out per hour

Thursday August 27, 2009: Today, Ed Balls MP joined Asda colleagues to officially open the new Asda Home Shopping Centre in Morley, Leeds and celebrated several hundred new jobs and investment to the area.

The supermarket chose Morley, Leeds to trial this innovative system for home shopping. Rather than filling out customer orders in-store, Asda colleagues now pick efficiently and quickly at the 50,000 sq ft centre, completing twice as many orders per hour and giving customers fourfold increase in the number of delivery slots.

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